


Severance

by Mice



Series: Moments Sacred and Profane [23]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2018-02-06 04:58:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1845169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mice/pseuds/Mice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Help from Earth has arrived, but is it too little, too late?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Severance

**Author's Note:**

> Happy beta by Zortified and Pas.

_Severance,_  
 _The birds of leaving call to us_ ,  
 _Yet here we stand_  
 _Endowed with the fear of flight._  
 _Overland_  
 _The winds of change consume the land,_  
 _While we remain_  
 _In the shadow of summers now past._  
~~Dead Can Dance -- from _Severance_

Please power it up." Rodney gave him a look that suggested sex might be weeks away, assuming they survived the Wraith attack at all.

Carson took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to focus. After a moment, the chair slipped back into its active position and Carson felt the power flood him. It scared the crap out of him but he did his best to stay with it and only concentrate on keeping it active.

"Good," Rodney muttered. "Good. Good. And -- oh no."

Carson's eyes flew open and he looked over at Rodney, on the verge of panic. "What? Did I do something wrong?" His heart hammered in his chest, his palms sweating.

Rodney didn't bother to respond. He just jerked the uplink cable from his tablet and dashed out of the room. Carson's breath was coming in quick gasps now. Surely he'd done something awful. Radek hurried over to him. "See?" he said, "Nothing to worry about."

Somehow, Carson doubted that. Rodney's voice carried back into the room. "Get him out of the chair!" Radek reached over and helped pull Carson up as Rodney's footsteps retreated.

"Oh, god," Carson said, shaking himself as he got up. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong with what you did, Carson, trust me. If you'd done something wrong, Rodney would still be here, yelling at you." Radek gave him a wry half-smile.

"Well, I guess you've a point, at that." He took a deep breath and let it out, trying to let go of his upset. "If you don't mind, I think I'll be off. I don't want him to put me back in that thing when he returns."

Radek gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Good idea. I think it would be wise if you hurried. I've no idea where Rodney was headed. I must find out what happened."

Carson ran.

*** 

Rodney cornered Everett in a corridor outside the control room afterwards. "You, Colonel, are an idiot."

"Is that a fact?" Everett growled.

"You seem exceedingly fond of that phrase," Rodney snapped. "And yes, it's a fact. You came swooping in here, ignoring the people who know what the hell is going on, you plant your space mines and don't bother to ask the opinion of any of the scientific staff--"

"Just a moment, Dr. McKay," Everett said, holding up one hand. "I don't need your approval for my actions, nor do I need--"

"If you expect anybody to survive this mess, you'd damned well better start listening to us!" Rodney shouted. "We're the ones who've been here! We're the ones who have a fucking _clue_ about what the Wraith are capable of! If you're not willing to listen--"

"Doctor!" Everett snapped, glaring. "I've read the reports. I have my orders. I know what I'm supposed to be doing here. Do you?"

"Saving your imbecilic ass," Rodney snarled at him. "Which is obviously not worth a moment of my time." He turned and stormed off, exasperated. Rodney hoped Sheppard would have a better time dealing with the bastard.

*** 

"The guy's a nutcase," Lt. Miller said, glancing over his shoulder.

"No kidding," Jackson De Lancie added, nodding in agreement. "He should have held some of them nukes back. There was no way to guarantee the Wraith weren't gonna find the damned things."

Sheppard nodded. "Yeah, I know. McKay's been ranting about it every time I see him. I hear he tried to ream Everett a new one."

Cpl. De Lancie crossed his arms over his chest and nodded again. "Oh yeah. He'd do that. The man's got a temper on him."

"In this case he'd be thoroughly justified," Miller added.

"Agreed, gentlemen," Sheppard said. He leaned back against the wall. They were all grabbing a minute to breathe as the frantic activity of assembling the rail guns proceeded around them. "But I'm not in charge anymore and no matter what we may think of this guy's capacities, we have to follow his orders. I hate it as much as anybody." More, probably, he thought. He'd never been much of one for following idiot orders to begin with.

Teyla approached cautiously and Sheppard turned to greet her. "Major," she said quietly.

"Hey, guys, I gotta run." He turned to Teyla. "Yeah, let's get out of here. We need to talk."

"Indeed we do," she said as they hurried away from the balcony. "My people would very much like to help defend the City of the Ancestors. I do not, however, know how your Colonel Everett will receive this. He has been suspicious of me, and I do not know if that suspicion will carry over to a suspicion of my people as a whole."

Sheppard sighed and nodded. "I'm not sure either, Teyla, and I can't tell you how sorry I am about that. You know if I were in charge--"

"If you were in command, Major, there would be no question that every available person would be allowed to assist with the city's defense. You have been a good friend to us, and your trust in me is greatly appreciated." She put a hand on his arm as they walked. "But you are not, and so we must deal with Col. Everett."

"He doesn't strike me as the trusting type," Sheppard said. "And the way he's been treating Elizabeth and Rodney really sucks."

"I do not believe he is a very wise leader," Teyla said solemnly. "Were I in his position, I would seek the counsel of those who have been living with the threat of the Wraith before I acted."

"Yeah, well you're a lot smarter and more flexible than he seems to be." Sheppard sighed. "God, I'm starved. I don't think I've eaten anything today. You?"

She nodded, frowning. "No, I have been far too busy for food."

"Come on then, we should hit the mess hall. Neither of us is gonna be much good if we start getting lightheaded. I'd like to have McKay keep the corner on that market."

Teyla smiled. "I agree. I do not believe that, what did he call it -- 'passing out from manly hunger' will aid our work."

Sheppard laughed. "Nope, you got that right!" He grinned and they turned down the corridor toward the mess.

*** 

When the call to battle stations came that night, Carson was already in the infirmary. Because of the radiation from the screen of blown nuclear mines around the planet, they'd not seen the Wraith Darts coming until they were nearly atop the city. There hadn't been much time to prepare.

Carson had known it was going to be bad, but the reality was worse than he'd ever imagined. He couldn't hear the Darts overhead, but he could hear the barrage from the rail guns and the thunder of automatic weapons fire through the walls and down the corridors and it chilled him to the bone.

As wounded began coming in, he buried his fear and took charge of himself and his domain, snapping orders, working triage, directing his people. He ran himself ragged trying to keep ahead of the situation. It distracted him, but not enough. The explosions outside, though muffled, were enough to make him flinch. When he let himself look around, he knew he wasn't the only one. He still felt like a coward.

When the infirmary shuddered he knew that a Dart had crashed nearby and prayed that no one had died when it struck. He focused on his work, trying to move past the terror that lay in his gut, curling like an adder. The wounded kept coming.

*** 

Aiden Ford looked down from the balcony at the still-burning water between two starfish arms of the city. There were fires burning everywhere, lighting up the night like stars on the water.

They'd lost a lot of people, too many. The rail guns had been effective, but they just weren't enough. People were missing, some were dead, quite a few were wounded. He was losing confidence in Everett, uncertain that the Colonel was making good decisions.

Aiden was a good soldier. He knew when he had to follow orders, even if sometimes they didn't make much sense at the time. When Everett first came through the Gate, Aiden hoped it was the answer to their prayers. The Colonel seemed like he knew what he was doing -- he'd read the reports. He'd brought backup and materiel and strategies that had given Aiden hope at the brink of despair.

But when the Wraith came, Everett and the newcomers weren't prepared. Sure, they'd fought valiantly -- it was their job -- but they didn't understand what they were up against. They were used to dealing with the Goa'uld, who really only wanted to enslave everyone. The Wraith wanted them for _food_. It was an entirely different mindset, an entirely different kind of enemy.

He hurried toward the control room, knowing he'd need to start helping regroup the military personnel. He wondered how many were left.

Damage reports were still coming in from all over the city, and people were looking for the missing. No one could be certain if the Wraith had taken them or if they were trapped under debris. He wondered if any had fallen overboard during the battle and his eyes searched the burning water again as he ran. 

The scientists and maintenance and the admin types were doing a lot of the damage control. More of them had returned from the Alpha site than he'd thought. Most of them had no idea how to use a gun, but they were a hell of a lot braver than he ever would have guessed. The original expedition folks, they were good people and it ached that he couldn't spare them this horror.

He wished he could spare himself.

*** 

"You need rest, Carson," Shel said. "It's almost five in the morning. You've been up for nearly two solid days." She'd been watching him run himself into the ground all night after the battle had begun.

"There's too much to do," Carson told her. He looked exhausted. "There are too many wounded that still have to be treated before they can be sent to the Alpha site."

She sighed. "You're going to end up flat on your back in one of these beds if you don't get some rest. You know there are other doctors on duty who haven't been pushing themselves quite as hard as you have."

Carson shook his head. "No, Shel. I'm the CMO. I'm supposed to set the example here."

"Well you're setting a lousy one. Do you want everyone to do what you're doing right now? Do you really want everyone on staff falling over on their faces like you're about to?" She took him firmly by one shoulder and steered him to a chair, where he sank, exhausted. He buried his face in his hands.

"No. No, of course not."

"Then why are you doing it to yourself?"

He sighed. "Someone has to be in charge."

"Anand can do that. You know he's perfectly capable." She slipped behind him and started rubbing his shoulders. "Let go, Carson. Get a couple of hours sleep, at least. Yes, everyone needs you, but they don't need you killing yourself."

Carson didn't look up. "All right, then," he said quietly. "You have a point. But I'll sleep here. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my office."

"Where do you intend to sleep in your office?" she asked. There was no bed in there, not even a couch. "In your chair?"

"Under my desk," he said, looking up and giving her a wry grin. "I'll just pretend I'm back in my residency. I'm just as exhausted as I used to be then, right enough."

She shook her head. "Right. At least let me get you a pillow and a blanket."

"Oh, aye, that would be good." He leaned forward and tilted himself to his feet. "If you need anything, you be sure to wake me, do you hear?"

"Loud and clear," Shel said, not intending to wake him at all.

*** 

"Man, this just creeps me out," Rob Stackhouse said.

Siwicki nodded, looking around nervously. "I really really don't want to be close enough to one of the damned things to see it, much less shoot at it."

"You didn't have to come back," Rob said gently.

"I know," Erin said, "but I can at least use one of these things." She lifted the P90. "A lot of the folks who came back can't, but they're here anyway."

"Remind you too much of active duty?" Stackhouse asked.

She snorted. "No. You think some squid who's not in a war zone is gonna have a gun anywhere near them? You don't join the Navy to shoot at stuff, Rob."

He chuckled. "So why _do_ you join the Navy?"

"So you can have the kitchen and your bed hauled around with you."

"Damn," he said. "I think I missed the boat." They both chuckled with exaggerated humor at the lame pun. 

"How many of them do you think got into the city?" she asked. She wondered if Rodney and Radek knew, or even if they cared right now.

Rob sighed. "No idea. They've got most of the folks who aren't actively Wraith hunting confined to specific areas so they can scope 'em out with the city's sensor systems." He paced quietly up and down the hall in front of the door. 

"Tell me again why we came to Atlantis?"

He looked at her and rolled his eyes. "It was the hottest assignment available from the SGC. I figured if we ever got back, my career would be made. 'Course, I'd never be able to tell anybody about any of it."

"No kidding. Do you have any idea how many papers and articles I won't be able to publish if I ever get back to Earth?" They both startled when a soft sound echoed around them, but it was followed by a quiet curse in Czech.

"Stop dropping shit, Radek." Rodney's voice was hollow in the chair room. "Do you have any idea what would happen to us if you dropped the generator?"

"I was not moving the generator," Radek objected. "And besides, I think it would be less painful to go in a naquadah explosion than to be sucked dry by the Wraith." Their voices quieted again, just background noise.

Erin and Rob relaxed a little. Rob kept pacing the hallway, up and back, up and back. Erin's leg still hurt, so pacing wasn't an option, but she felt like she was about to burst out of her skin from her anxiety.

"I hope the Daedalus gets here soon," she whispered.

Rob nodded. "Me too," he said softly. "Me too."

*** 

"Catfish," Jackson De Lancie muttered. Bren Henderson turned to him.

"Huh?"

"Them Wraith, they look like some bad-assed catfish. Too bad we can't deep-fry their asses. My mama, she'd know what to do with 'em." He shook his head, picturing his mama with a spatula in her hand. It brought a dark, uneasy smile to his lips.

She looked at him, a mix of amusement and nervousness in her eyes. "And I suppose you think the Wraith guards look like hush puppies?"

He grimaced, glancing down at the lifesigns detector. "Ain't never seen no hush puppy that ugly," he said. "Hang on. We got company." He gestured down the hallway to the right and held up three fingers.

Bren nodded. She pulled a grenade from her LBE. They slipped silently down the corridor. Where the corridor turned, they paused and she peered around the corner. Ducking back quickly, she pulled the pin.

A count of three and she whipped the grenade into the hallway. The explosion was intense, and they both turned their P90s toward the enemy and fired.

When the smoke cleared, two Wraith were still standing.

"Holy shit," Jacks whispered. "Don't those fuckers die?"

Bren opened fire.

*** 

"There are twenty or thirty of them, according to sensors," Radek was saying to Siwicki and Stackhouse as Rodney approached the chair room with Carson in tow. Erin looked profoundly disturbed. Rob just shifted nervously.

"I'm tellin' you, I can't do this," Carson said, continuing the diatribe he'd started in the infirmary when Rodney had gone to get him. "It's pure bloody insanity." The objections had been pouring out nonstop at high volume, with rapid-fire nervousness.

"It's _necessary_ , Carson," Rodney growled. He loved the man, but there wasn't time for this and Rodney was already running on nothing more than adrenaline, terror, and coffee fumes. "We are so fucking doomed."

Radek turned to look at them, as did the other two. "We are not doomed, Rodney," he said. 

"And in precisely what way are we not doomed?" Rodney snapped.

"This plan, it will work, I'm sure of it." Radek looked at Carson. "We just need your help. You can do this."

Carson pointed accusingly at Erin, angry and frightened. "She's better with the Jumpers than I am. She's a much better pilot. She--"

"--knows how to shoot a fucking P90," Rodney snarled. "Which is sort of vital at the moment. Now get over it!" He grabbed Carson by the shoulder and shoved him into the chair room. Zelenka followed them in.

"There's other people on this base that possess the Ancient gene. Dr. Kusanagi, for example. I'm sure she'd relish the opportunity to help."

Rodney glared at Carson. He was going to strangle his lover in about thirty seconds. "I am exhausted and starving, so sit down." Carson stepped up to the dais and stared at the chair. "Carson, it's out of drones," he said, resigned and immensely frustrated. "You couldn't do any damage if you wanted to." He wondered if he should kick the man.

Carson took a deep breath and Rodney gestured to the chair. Carson sat in it, but Rodney could tell he hated it. He was surprised when Carson didn't whine about anything else, but simply concentrated and lit the chair. 

"Thank you," he said, relieved. "Okay, we're in business." Rodney turned to Radek. "Head on down to the Jumper bay. Radio me when you're there."

Radek nodded and hurried out. Rodney walked around behind the chair, watching as Carson grimaced uncomfortably. He wondered if it actually hurt for Carson to do this. He certainly reacted like it sometimes. Not that there was anything to do for or about it right now. There was too much else to worry about. Like impending doom.

*** 

Sora knew the end of it all was near. The Atlanteans guarding her weren't panicking but she could see they were afraid. The Wraith were in Atlantis. She knew that much. It was spoken in whispers and the tension in the bodies of the people around her. Their eyes were shadowed with fear and uncertainty.

And she was going home.

She wasn't sure exactly how that had been arranged. As far as she'd known, her people considered her dead, her mission failed. She would most likely be interrogated about her captivity. It wasn't a process she was looking forward to.

The Atlanteans were arrogant, certainly, but there was an odd softness to so many of them. She didn't pretend to understand them. She wasn't sure she understood Teyla Emmagan either, though as a girl she'd always admired the Athosian.

There, in the corridors of Atlantis, when Teyla had dropped the knife and gone to rescue her friend, she'd made a decision. She might not forgive Teyla for her father's death, but she could put it behind her. Commander Kolya had shown Sora that there were things about her own people, about the Genii, that were less than honorable.

She had always believed in honor. She believed in duty and in compassion. Killing the Atlantean guards rather than subduing them when they invaded the city during the great storm had been unnecessary. The Commander had deviated from their mission from the moment those shots were fired. Sora'd had more than enough time to think about all the things that had gone wrong; about all the lives they'd lost to a mere six Atlanteans. 

They were arrogant and soft, but they were also resourceful in ways that her own people had never imagined. Their victory during the raid had not been a simple matter of superior technology. It was, she realized, the result of a flexibility of mind that the Genii didn't possess. It engendered a grudging admiration in her. 

As she stood before the Gate, watching the Atlanteans scrambling to defend their incredible city, she hoped her own people would have the sense to ally with them. She doubted it would happen.

The Gate bloomed. Sora wondered if she would ever see the Atlanteans again.

*** 

Radek wiped sweat from his eyes. His entire body was buzzing from the stimulants Carson had given him. Rodney had said nothing about it but he could see his friend was in the same state. They worked frantically on the nuclear weapons they'd received from the Genii.

"Maybe I should have given them all the information," Rodney sighed. "We wouldn't be doing this if I'd just given them what they wanted."

"They tortured you, Rodney," Radek said, looking up, startled. "They would have killed you and Carson both. You said they--"

Rodney leaned his head on one forearm, resting briefly against the immense casing of the bomb. "I know, I know." He closed his eyes, one gloved hand splayed against the dull metal. "Dead then. Dead now. Dead ten minutes from now. Carson will stay until I drag him through the Gate myself; you know it as well as I do. Who the hell are we trying to fool?"

Radek pulled off one glove and reached out, laying his bare hand on Rodney's shoulder. "We are trying to fool no one. We're simply trying to save our own lives."

There was pain in Rodney's eyes when he looked over at Radek. "What good is any of this going to do? We're doomed." He slumped and closed his eyes again. "I shouldn't be in charge of this," he said softly. "You should. I keep fucking up and getting people killed."

Radek flinched at the admission. Peter's death was too recent and too raw for either of them, and he had no idea how Geoff was taking it. His lover was at the Alpha site, at least marginally safer than the people still on Atlantis. There was nothing Geoff could do here anyway. "None of this has been your fault." Radek's hand was still on Rodney's shoulder and he let it drift gently down his friend's back to his waist. "I fail to see how I, or anyone else for that matter, could have done a better job than you have so far. Well, yes, you made an error in judgment in allowing Dr. Weir to bring Kavanagh along, but you did not know him personally at the time."

Rodney snorted and a lopsided grin flashed for a moment and was gone. The brief glint tightened Radek's chest. "Enough stalling, Zelenka. Get your lazy ass back to work." Rodney straightened and stared back into the guts of the nuclear device, ignoring Radek's hand.

"I hope the Daedalus arrives soon."

Rodney reached into the bomb, shaking his head. "They'll get here half an hour after we're all dead because somebody had to fill out forms in triplicate. Typical military."

Radek drew his hand away and put his protective glove back on. "This will work. The bombs on the Jumpers, the Major pilots them remotely, poof." He gestured with his hands. "No more Wraith Hiveships." He reached into the bomb he was working on, shadowing Rodney's movements. 

"Is this more of that 'if the crops don't fail there'll definitely be a blizzard' Eastern European optimism?" Rodney asked. 

" _Ano_ , yes," Radek muttered, peering at the mess before him. "Such an inefficient design. The Genii, they were stunningly close to blowing themselves up."

"Yeah, and it's a good thing we're geniuses. I built a better bomb than this in grade six." Rodney stretched onto his toes to reach into the body of the casing, making a delicate adjustment.

"I think I need a ladder." Radek grimaced as he reached into the bomb as far as he could.

Rodney looked over at him. "You need to be taller." His eyes moved up and down Radek's frame, a strange, guarded expression on his face. "Then again," he said quietly, "maybe not so much."

Radek wondered what that meant but let it go. If they survived, there were a lot of things he wanted to say to Rodney; a few things he wanted to ask.

They had hours of work left to do, and the Wraith were closing in. The battle for the city continued all around them. Siwicki and Stackhouse sat outside the door, still guarding them. He could hear them talking quietly now and then, the strain of fear in their voices as gunshots sounded in the distance.

With a quick twist of subtly trembling fingers, Radek connected wires together. Their lives hung on such small details. He prayed for enough time.

*** 

Carson stared at the screen, watching as the Jumper moved, cloaked, toward the Hiveships. There was a tight, sick knot in his stomach. He was cold to his marrow as the self-destruct claxon sounded sharp in his ears.

John Sheppard was in that Jumper. The hours Carson had spent in the control chair while Rodney and Radek had worked out the connections for remote controlling the craft had drained the generator that powered it.

The Major was going to commit suicide to try to save them and it was his fault. He'd kept the chair running, wasting power. Carson had always known sitting in the thing was a mistake. He wished again he'd never had the bloody gene.

Someone was going to have to fly the second Jumper. Deliver the second bomb. The only people left on Atlantis now who could fly it were Rodney and himself. Terror and expedience warred within him. There was no way he was going to let his lover fly that thing. Atlantis -- the expedition -- needed him too much. Carson, on the other hand, was expendable.

He closed his eyes and steeled himself for a final goodbye.

To Be Continued...


End file.
